In recent years, telecommunications have advanced from wired calling to wireless calling and from circuit-switched networks to packet-switched networks. In addition to voice calling, telecommunications devices now allow a range of communications, from emails to text messages, support numerous applications, and provide many data services, including Internet browsing and video streaming Internet browsing and video streaming enable a video calling device user to view a streamed video clip from an Internet web site on her video calling device. Convergences of these technologies and others have resulted in support for video calling by video calling devices and their associated service providers. Video calling provides real-time video of the conversation partner to accompany the real-time audio exchanged in any voice or video call.
While the number and types of telecommunication devices and service providers is increasing, many telecommunication devices are unable to engage in video calling or are only able to engage in video calling in the presence of certain network conditions. For example, video calling services may require a telecommunication device to have a camera or be connected to a camera, or may require that a telecommunication device be connected to a certain type of network. This uncertainty of which telecommunication devices are, at any moment, able to engage in a video call makes initiation of such video calls burdensome and infrequent.